Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The root cause of the mess in the Middle East is really quite simple. In 1947 The United Nations (General Assembly Resolution 181) called for the area of Palestine between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea to be partitioned into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Simple.

The Arab leadership rejected the plan and launched a genocidal war against the new-born Jewish State. The Arab leadership continues to this day to oppose the two-state (one Jewish and one Arab) solution. The Arab rejection of the Jewish State is the ongoing cause of the conflict.

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Foreigners becoming citizens of the United States recite the "pledge of allegiance". An amendment to the Israeli Citizenship Act calls for the words "Jewish and democratic state." to be added at the end of the Israeli pledge of allegiance. The pledge has nothing to do with loyalty to or belief in any religion. It affirms loyalty to the Jewish and democratic state of Israel. This has resulted in a new wave of delegitimization of Israel, and of a new rejection of the U.N.'s 1947 partition plan for the establishment of a Jewish State.

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I'm just back from my trip to America. While strolling along New York's 5th ave., an inflammatory headline screamed out at me and other passersby from a newspaper vending machine.

It was the front page of the "Jewish Forward". The headline was:

New Loyalty Oath Unusual in Asserting Religion Israel Stands Out in Requiring Fealty to a Specific Faith

If you want to read the column that followed the misleading, and incitement-filled headline you can read it here.